A Broken Arm and Caring Brother
by RayneSummer
Summary: Basically end of 2.04; Dean remembers about Sam's broken arm and takes him to get it fixed, all the while worrying about him. Usual does of hurt!Sam and protective!Dean; don't own the characters at all.


After Dean had cried his emotions out at the side of the road, he turned around and simply got back into the car. Surprised by the sudden change, Sam pushed off the car to get back into it too, but pain seared through his injured arm, so severe that he dropped to the floor with a yell of pain.

Dean was immediately alerted to his little brother's agony and in a second shot out of the car and around to the other side;"Sammy!"

He crouched down beside the kid, quickly scanning his for the source of pain. He saw the way Sam cradled his arm against his chest and the way his face was screwed up, trying to bear the white hot knives in it. Then he remembered what Sam had said earlier after the hunt – **"I think she broke my arm"**.

"Ah, dammit, Sammy," he muttered as he reached for the injured limb. But Sam, pain flaring again, jerked it away from his big brother's caring hands.

"Don't..." he mumbled shakily, and it wasn't only his voice that was shaking. His whole body was too and a feeling of cold and numbness was spreading through him.

"Sam, you gotta let me take a look," Dean said gently, reaching for his arm again. This time the younger Winchester allowed the other to hold it, carefully examining the extensiveness of the injury with pressure.

When Dean pushed down a little at Sam's wrist, he hissed in pain and pulled the limb back towards him, holding it close and squeezing his eyes closed as he tried to contain the agony.

Both Winchesters were quite experienced with injuries and how they should be treated, and Dean knew immediately, with that level of pain and how it felt, that Sam's wrist was seriously broken.

He bit his lip as he watched his little brother try to control his breathing through the knives he felt in his arm. Dean knew that he needed a hospital to set the wrist, and soon; the longer they waited, the worst the injury could get.

"I'm sorry I didn't pay attention, Sammy," he said softly, and the kid opened his eyes to slits and looked at Dean strangely as he tried to shift into a more comfortable position, sitting on the pavement.

"It's not your fault, Dean," he sighed, and winced as he glanced down at the swollen wrist. Dean sighed too, wearily. More pain in their family.

"Alright. Come on, sasquatch," he said decisively, reaching for Sam's uninjured arm to help him up.

He got his little brother into the car with minimum pain – which was still a lot – and then got into the vehicle himself, took one look at the passenger and started the car, revving it towards the nearest hospital.

As Dean drove as fast as he could, he glanced over at Sam occasionally, who just seemed to be getting in more pain.

"Just so you know, Sam, if you pass out I am officially allowed to freak out," he commented casually, earning himself a bitchface from the kid.

Dean smiled slightly. His brother was obviously not in enough pain to stop him from giving that usual reaction.

No more than fifteen minutes later, they pulled up at a minor injuries unit and Dean glanced at Sam again, who was, slightly surprisingly but thankfully, still conscious, meaning Dean was not in fact allowed to completely freak out.

"Come on, Sammy, we're here," he told his little brother gently, who nodded silently in his semi-conscious state, putting Dean's worry up another notch.

He quickly got out and went around the other side of the Impala to help his little brother out too, taking him into the building.

He deposited the kid in a chair in the waiting room while Dean himself went up to the reception desk.

The young woman there smiled at him; something he would usually pursue, but when his little brother was in pain, there was nothing else he wanted apart from Sam better.

"Good evening, Sir, how may we help you today?" she asked his politely.

Dean offered a quick smile as a greeting before replying, "uh, my brother tripped over and I think he's broken his wrist. He's in a lot of pain, is it possible to help him quickly?" he added after briefly glancing at Sam, still cradling the injured limb and trying to ride through the pain.

The nurse followed his gaze, her expression concerned and sympathetic. "Yes, of course. It's not very busy tonight," she told the worried big brother kindly.

She reached underneath the desk and pulled out a form. "Please fill this out and I'll go to find a doctor for you." She handed him the paper on a clipboard with another polite smile.

Dean nodded and took the forms, giving her a grateful smile and replying, "Yeah, thank you." She nodded too and left out a door through the back.

Dean headed back to his brother and sat down beside him, surprising Sam, who jumped a little, in turn making his hiss in pain as it shot through his wrist again.

The elder Winchester watched Sam for a moment in concern before sighing and turning to the paperwork, filling it out with all their false details.

Not two minutes later, the nurse came back and asked the boys to follow her with a smile. Dean supported Sam as they walked into a treatment room where a doctor was waiting. He looked up and smiled at them.

"Now then, Sam... Wesson?" he said, glancing up from the paper handed to him by the nurse. Dean nudged his brother, who looked up from his pain and nodded in the direction of the doctor.

He looked concerningly at the kid, and gestured to the exam bed/table; "Please take a seat." Sam sat down, leaving Dean to lean on the wall beside him, as the doctor took his arm and examined it.

"How did you say you did this?" he asked as he carefully tested the injury and reached for a syringe to relieve Sam of pain.

"Uh... fell over," the younger Winchester murmured in reply after a single look at Dean, who had already said this.

The doctor slipped a needle into Sam's hand, explaining, "something to help with the pain." The kid nodded distractedly, the pinch hardly noticed over the flaming pain in his wrist.

Thankfully, within seconds, the medication worked its way through his bloodstream and Sam relaxed, Dean relaxing with him once his little brother wasn't in pain any more.

"Well, luckily for you, I think it's a clean break," their doctor explained kindly. Dean nodded, not taking his eyes off Sam. "But we'll still need to take an x-ray to see how it's broken."

He stood up and faced Dean. "Could you please wait in the waiting room while we take your brother for an x-ray?" he asked; he decided it was only right to ask.

It was a simple enough request and Sam wasn't in very much pain any more, so Dean obliged, nodding politely at the doctor and heading out after a quick smile at Sam.

Out in the waiting room, he paced, unable to sit still when he didn't know where his brother was. Meanwhile, Sam was taken for an x-ray and checked how bad the break was.

Dean considered calling Bobby, but he had no real need to, and if Sam was going to be okay then there didn't need to be recovery time there.

Still, the big brother couldn't help but worry about the kid, glancing up every few minutes to check if Sam or the doctor was coming back.

However, soon, thankfully, the nurse from the start entered the room and spotted him immediately. He stopped pacing to hear what she had to say.

With a kind smile, she explained, "Sam will be fine; it was a clean break and won't require surgery. He's being set with a plaster cast and given antibiotics to take now."

Dean sighed in relief, unable to help himself. He seriously worried about his little brother; yeah, they got injuries, but usually not as bad as a break. Because broken bones take a while to heal and require more attention than others.

He gave her a grateful smile and she gestured to the back of the hospital, where the rooms were. He nodded and followed her back to Sam.

In a different exam room, Sam had just had his cast set by the doctor and was waiting for it to dry as the medic explained about taking the antibiotics he was issued.

The Winchester nodded distractively, on the lookout for his big brother. Dean walked in the room and Sam immediately stop being tense, finally able to properly relax now.

"Hey, doc, he cause you any trouble? Sammy's not too good on meds," Dean said cheekily, winking at Sam, who gave him a bitchface. The doctor smiled at sibling banter.

"No, your brother was fine and so is his arm now," he replied, standing up and facing Dean. "Just make sure he gets one of these twice a day," he said, holding up the pill container.

Sam looked scandalised that the doctor had known he wouldn't have taken them, and had so given them to his brother to ensure he took them. He had to admit, that was a good move.

Dean nodded, pocketing the pills. "Sure thing," he said easily, grinning at Sam's look. The doctor looked amused from one boy to the other and addressed them both.

"So, just rest up and take the pills and you'll be fine. Make sure to have a check-up in three weeks, and the cast can come off in six weeks," he told Sam. Then, turning to Dean, simply added, "make sure he does all those things."

Dean nodded with a smile as Sam got up from the chair and scowled at him, knowing that there was no choice in the matter now.

"Thanks, doc. Really," Dean told the doctor seriously just before the boys went out. He nodded with a smile as he watched them go, the older one trying to help the little brother, and the kid predictably refusing the help until he stumbled, caught from falling by the other.

The nurse watched them go too. She watched the two go out to their car, get in, and head off on the road again. She wondered how hard their lives were and how many times similar events to this had been carried out.

And as she watched the Winchesters, she smiled too. At least, for now, they were both okay. And that was her job.


End file.
